Address plate



Feb. 18, 1936. w. T. GoLLwlTzER A2,030,865

ADDRESS PLATE Filed May 25, 1932 iblq Patented Feb. 18, 1936 UNITED STATES ADDRESS PLATE Walter T. Gollwitzer, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to Addressograph Company, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application May 23, 1932, Serial No. 612,955

' 14 Claims.

This invention relates to an address plate comlprising a holder having mounted thereon an embossed printing plate. The invention relates to such mutual formation of the frame and the printing plate as will enable the very ready installation or removal of the printing plate from the frame, but will result in the effective holding of the printing plate when in place.

In carrying out the invention, I provide the frame with overhanging retaining ledges beneath which a printing plate may be slid, the frame having retaining means to coact with recesses inthe ends of the printing plate to properly center the printing plate, whereby such plate may be quite loose so far as the lips are concerned, and thus easily installed or removed, and still be accurately held against shifting in the plane of the plate by the end engagement.

More particularly, I provide a stamped sheet metal frame which has one' edge curled over above the surface of the frame and has struckup lips also raised above the surface of the frame and projecting toward the curled-over edge, the curled-over edge and lips providing means for holding a loose embossed printing strip down on the frame; and I provide the frame also with a pair of tongues 'cut from the body of the frame and having upstanding abutments with projections toward each other,'these projections being adapted to engage notches formed in the end of the printing strip. By notching the end portions oi the printing plate, I form intermediate longitudinal boundary edges on the plate, which constitute shoulders adapted to engage the side surfaces of the abutment projections, whereby such projections serve to prevent shifting of the printing plate transversely of its length. Either abutment may be depressed manually so that the printing strip can be readily shoved into place over such abutment and slid loosely beneath the retaining edge and lips until it engages the opposite abutment, whereupon the abutment over which it was slid rises to act against the plate at that end and prevent its removal. The abutment projections, by entering the notches oi the printing strip. centerit so that the printing lines will come exactly in the desired place, while the lips an'd curled edge serve to hold the printing strip down on the frame; but, as they are not relied upon to limit the shifting up and down on the frame, the printing plate may be very loose beneath the edge and lips. This enables the plate to be very readily inserted or removed. A preferred embodiment of my invention is illustratedr in the drawing hereof and is hereinafter described in detail, and the essential and novel lfeaturesare summarized in the claims.

Fig. 1 is a plan of my address plate complete.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan of a portion of the 5 plate with the printing member moved away from one end.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section lengthwise of the printing member on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section at right angles to Fig. 3, as indicated by the line 4-4 on Fig. 1. y

Fig. 5 is a perspective of a portion of the address plate with the printing member mounted thereon.

Fig. 6 is a perspective of the address plate with the printingI member removed. l5

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary longitudinal section on the line 'I--1 on Fig. 5, showing the printing plate in place.

Fig. 8 is a section in the same plane, showing the plate in the act of being removed. 20

Figs. 9 and 10 are sections through the address plate and printing plate in place, 'taken on' the correspondingly numbered lines on Fig. 5.

The complete device, often called an address plate, consists of the frame I0, and the embossed 25 printing plate 20 mounted thereon, though, if desired, the frame may carry also an index card shown in. Fig. 1 at 30. As shown, the printing plate 20 is a strip of comparatively soft metal embossed with upwardly projecting printing characters 2 I. 'I'he longitudinal edges of the plate are preferably of a sinuous character as shown at 22 and in the extreme ends of the plate, adjacent the center of such ends, are located notches 24, preferably of rectangular form to present paral- 35 lel opposite edges.

The frame III, as shown in the drawing, comprises a sheet metal memberhaving itsends bent beneath it and bowed to provide hollow supporting and stiening ribs II. The top and bottom 40 edges I2 and I3 of the plate are curled over in a U-shape to lie above the plane of the plate, and the plate has a series of lips I4 struck up from the plate and projecting toward the curled edge I3. The body of the pme, the curled-over 45 edge and the lips provide a guideway into which the printing plate 20 may be slid lengthwise of the plate.

To limit the movement of the printing plate in either longitudinal direction, I employ the 50 feature of abutments I5 made of the body of the frame and coacting with the opposite ends of the printing plate. These two abutments are duplicates in formation, and each isformed by an upward distortion of a portion of a spring 55 tongue I6 cut out of the 'body of the plate by means of an approximately U-shaped slit I1.

My abutment I5, however, is made in peculiar form, as I will now describe. The upward distortion of the tongue provides an approximately semi-circular lip at the extreme end of the tongue and raised above the plane of the plate. This raising is eiected by bending upwardly gradually the central region I8 of the tongue and two extreme regions I9, while between each extreme region and the central connection is a sheared portion I5a on opposite sides of the central connection I8.

-The central raised region has parallel opposite edges and the inner edges of the extreme regions are preferably also parallel with such central edges. This is effected by continuing the shearing region a short distance in opposite directions from the opposite ends of the transverse shear, which vdefines the portion |53. The result is that these portions I '.ia present two vertical edges which extend from a slight distance above the plane of the tongue I6 upwardly at right angles thereto for a height which is approximately the same as the thickness of the printing plate 20. These edges thus present abrupt shoulders engaging the end of the plate and preventing longitudinal shifting. The

parallel sides of the central connecting portion.

I8 likewise present abrupt shoulders, and these latter shoulders, by engaging the parallel walls portion of the printing plate overlapping thel abutment I5; then, by a slight pressure deprees the abutment, as is readily allowed by the cut- 'out spring tongue I6; he then shoves the printing plate lengthwise over the depressed abutment and into the guide provided by the plate edge I3 and lips I4 until the printing plate comes into its nal position, where it is stopped by abutting the edges I5a of the abutment toward which the plate was shoved. At the same time that this engagement takes place, the freed abutment, over which the plate was passed, springs up and its edges I5 stand in the path of that end of the printing plate, while the two connecting portions I8 on the abutments enter the Itwo notches 24 in the printing plate, so that the printing plate is locked against movement in either longitudinal or transverse direction.

To remove the printing plate, the operator presses down one of the abutments I5, which may be veryi readily effected manually by pressure of the thumb against the abutment, and then gives a slight longitudinal movement to the printing plate to cause it to pass over the abutment. The abutment is thus held down in idle ing plate may lt loosely enough beneath thecurled edge and lips so that it may be very easiLv inserted or removed. f

It should be noted, also, that, by reason of conning the abutting surfaces I5 to the two intermediate regions between the central portion I8 and the extreme portions I3, I can make such central and extreme portions gradually inclined and thus readily connect the raised portion of the abutment I5 with the tongue portion without danger of breaking the metal. The inclines of the extreme portions extend back from-the end of the printing plate (see Fig. 10) while the central inclined region occupies the printing plate notch 24 (Figs, 5 and '1), so that neither of these connecting portions interfere with the printing plate coming against th'e abrupt stopping surfaces |53 which stand normal to `the plane of the carrier plate and thus eiectively A abut the ends of the printing plate, as shown in Figs. l, 5 and 9.

It will be noted from Fig. 7 that the outer ends of the abutment lips I5 are` farther from the plate end than the supporting ribs I I, and accordingly these abutment lips do not in any manner interfere with the stackingof the plates on each other, as illustrated in Fig. 7.

In Fig. 1, I have shown the top edge of the plate curled over at I2 to cooperate with lips, corner pocket, and end stops (all designated I2a) to retain the index card 30. But such features are optional.

I claim:

1. An address plate, comprising a frame having retaining devices to engage the side margins of a printing plate and having/a spring tongue provided with an abutment adapted to engage the end of such printing plate, rthe abutment having a portion connecting it with the tongue and an abrupt shoulder, combined with a printing plate adapted to coact with the retaining devices of the frame and having a recess in itsend adapted to receive the said connecting region of said abutment, while the abrupt shoulder of the abutment registers with the end of the printing plate.

2. A frame having a spring tongue formed of the material of the frame with a stamped-up end to form a lip, the raised portion being connected with the body of the tongue by an inclined central portion and being separated from the body on opposite sides of the central portion to provide abrupt shoulders, said frame being formed to carry a printing plate having a notch in its end adapted to receive the central connecting region of the abutment when the abrupt shouldersengage the end of the. plate.

3. An address plate, comprising a frame having projecting overhanging' retaining devices beneath which a printing plate may be shoved, and having a spring tongue provldedwith an abutment adapted to engage the end of such printing plate, the abutment having a central portion connecting it with the tongue and abrupt shoulders at opposite sides of the central portion, combined with a printing plate adapted to be slid into place lengthwise beneath the 'overhanging portions of the frame and having a notch in its end adapted to receive the central connecting region of said abutment, while the abrupt shoulders of the abutment register with the end of the printing plate on opposite sides of the notch. l

4. A frame having a spring tongue formed of theY material of the plate with a stamped-up end to form a lip, the raised portion being connected with the body of the tongue by an inclined central portion and being separated from the body on opposite sides of the central portion to provide A the extreme connecting regions of the raised porl tion of the tongue being beyond the abrupt shoulders. 1

5. Thecombination of a frame and a printing plate adapted to be mounted thereon, the printing plate having a notch in its end and the frame having a spring tongue'with raised portions presenting shoulders at right angles to each other abutting the end of the plate and a wall of the notch, respectively, and thus restricting the plate against longitudinal and transverse movement.

6. A frame for carrying a printing plate having a notch in its end characterized in that the frame has a tongue with a raised portion presenting an abrupt shoulder adapted to engage the printing plate outside of the notch, said raised portion being connected with the tongue proper by a less abrupt portion adapted to enter the notch of the plate. A

'7. A frame for carrying a printing plate having a notch in its end, characterized in that the frame has a tongue made out of the body of the frame and lying for the most part normally in the general plane of the frame, but with a raised portion adjacent its free end, said raised portion presenting a pair of abrupt shoulders adapted to engage the end of the plate on opposite sides of the notch, and an intermediate portion leading from the raised part in the direction away from the end of the tongue and gradually joining the body of the tongue and adapted to occupy the notchv in the end of the plate.

8. A frame having a spring tongue formed of the material of the frame with a stamped-up portion presenting two connected abutments having abrupt surfaces at right angles to each other, one of the surfaces being adapted to engage the end wall of a plate on the frame and the other a side wall of a notch in the end portion of such plate.

9. A metal frame having a spring tongue .formed of the metal of the frame and a stampedup end to form a lip, whereby the tongue may be manually depressed, said lip presenting an abrupty shoulder opposite the extreme end of a printing plate to be mounted on the frame, the lip being connected with the body of the tongue by a portion whose top surface gradually merges with the top of the tongue, but whose sides are' abrupt in a direction at right angles to the said abrupt surface of the lip.

10. A frame having a longitudinal guideway dened by upwardly projecting portions of the frame which have their edges projecting toward each other to provide a shallow channel into which a printing plate may be slid, spring abutments carried by the frame and positioned'to engage the opposite ends of such printing plate, each abutment being formed on the end of a tongue cut out of the frame and having its body normally lying in the plane of the frame and adapted to be beneath the printing plate, the abutment being pressed up from the plane of the tongue and having an abrupt shoulder adapted to engage the end of the printing plate, there being also a portion gradually connecting the abutment with the tongue and adapted to occupy a notch in the plate.

11. A frame for carrying a printing plate having a notch in its edge, characterized in that the frame has a raised portion presenting an abrupt shoulder adapted to engage the printing plateoutside of the notch, there being also a raised portion of the material of the frame adapted to occupy said notch when the plate is engaging the abutment.

12. The combination of a frame having a raised abutment and a raised projecting portion at an angle to the active edge of the, abutment and a removable printing plate adapted to be mounted on the frame and formed between its side edges and adjacent one end with a shoulder at an angle to the end, whereby said active edge of the abutment may engage the end of the plate while said projecting portion of the abutment engages said shoulder.

13. The combination of an elongated printing plate having notches 4in its opposite ends, the notch at onel end being at the same distance from one of the side edges that the notch at the other end is distant from the other sidel edge, and a -frame lhaving retaining devices to engage the side margins of said printing plate and having a pair of raised abutments which provide shoulders to engage the ends of the printing plate and connecting portions to occupy the notches, the location of said raised abutments having the same relation to the marginal plate engagers of the frame as the notches in the printing plate have to its side edges, whereby said printing plate may be mounted on the frame with either end toward the right hand.

14. The combination ofl an elongated printing plate having centrally located notches in its opposite ends, and a frame having retaining devices to engage the side margins of said printing plate and having a pair of spring tongues adapted to underlie the positioned printing plate, said tongues having at their end portions raised abutments which provide shoulders to engage the ends of the printing plate and connecting por- 

